DISPOSABLE DRINK CUP LID

Abstract

An embodiment is a drink cup lid to improve a coffee, espresso, and espresso-containing beverage drinker's enjoyment when drinking from a portable, disposable, and/or “to-go” cup (e.g., formed from a paper product, plastic, foam, and/or a combination thereof) including a plasticized lid to mitigate spillage and/or splash. More specifically, the drink cup lid may substantially provide an olfactory and tactile drinking experience from a spill-resistant portable, disposable, and/or “to-go” cup akin to drinking from a glass, cup, and/or mug. In short, the drink cup lid of an embodiment may improve the taste of the beverage contained in the drink cup.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to disposable plasticized “to-go” cup lids. More particularly, the present invention relates to disposable plasticized “to-go” coffee or espresso cup lids.

BACKGROUND

Coffee, espresso, and espresso-containing beverage drinkers frequently drink from un-lidded or open-topped glasses, cups, and/or mugs. The openness of the glass, cup, and/or mug may provide an enhanced experience for the drinker by enabling heightened olfactory and tactile interaction with the beverage within the glass, cup, or mug. Further, an open top may further enable the drinker to control the temperature of the beverage, for example by slurping air while drinking.

Often, for the sake of convenience and portability, a coffee, espresso, and espresso-containing beverage drinker may opt to drink their chosen beverage from a disposable paper product based coffee cup with a plasticized lid. In particular, the plasticized lid may contain one or a few small apertures through which the beverage may be consumed but through which spills (e.g., from tipping the cup over and/or from bumps and jostles) may be mitigated. However, the convenience and the portability of existing paper product “to-go” cups with plasticized lids may weigh against the drinker's ability to experience their chosen beverage as they would from a glass, cup, and/or mug. In particular, the size and arrangement of the spill-mitigating drinking apertures in the lid may substantially prevent the drinker from enjoying same or similar olfactory and tactile interaction with the beverage as they would drinking from a glass, cup, and/or mug.

The following represents a list of known related art:

		Date of
Reference:	Issued to:	Issue/Publication:
US Pat App Pub. 2008/0000921	Leon	Jan. 3, 2008
U.S. Pat. No. 7,185,781	Pitts	Mar. 6, 2007
U.S. Pat. No. 7,134,570	Heath et al.	Nov. 14, 2006
U.S. Pat. No. 6,431,390	Waller	Aug. 13, 2002
U.S. Pat. No. 6,419,112	Bruce	Jul. 16, 2002
U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,731	Schuyler	Sep. 10, 1996
U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,568	Warden et al.	Apr. 23, 1996
U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,372	McFarland	Oct. 28, 1986
U.S. Pat. No. 4,503,992	Sitko et al.	Mar. 12, 1985
US Des. Pat. D437,223	Coy	Feb. 6, 2001

The teachings of each of the above-listed citations (which does not itself incorporate essential material by reference) are herein incorporated by reference. None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.

SUMMARY AND ADVANTAGES

The drink cup lid of an embodiment offers numerous advantages compared to standard disposable “to-go” drink cup lids. In particular, the location and configuration of the drinking aperture and the scent aperture enable a coffee, espresso, and/or espresso-containing beverage drinker to not only mitigate spillage but to also moderately mimic the openness of a glass, cup, or mug with respect to olfactory and/or tactile experience. For example, the drink cup lid of an embodiment may enhance the drinking experience by making available to the drinker the smell of the coffee, espresso, and/or espresso-containing beverage. More specifically, the drink cup lid of an embodiment may include not only a hole or drinking aperture through which the drinker may imbibe, but also a slit or scent aperture positioned under and/or adjacent to the drinker's nostrils to vent beverage vapors that may in turn be substantially thoroughly smelled. In addition, the location and configuration of the hole or drinking aperture may facilitate substantially simultaneous consumption of the liquid portion of the beverage and foam, whipped cream, or any other beverage topping while also substantially preventing leakage based on upper lip fit. Further still, the location, configuration, and depth of the drinking aperture depression and/or the nose depression may allow the drinker to more substantially tilt the cup with less tilting of their head.

The drink cup lid of an embodiment presents numerous advantages, including: (1) mitigates spillage from a portable and/or disposable drink cup; (2) offers a similar olfactory and tactile drinking experience compared to a glass, cup, or mug without a lid; (3) enables the ingestion of foam, whipped cream, or other topping simultaneous with drinking the liquid beverage; (4) reduces residual foam, whipped cream, or other topping after consuming the liquid beverage; (5) mitigates tongue burning; (6) provides a degree of temperature control; (7) enhances smell, aroma, and/or scent intensity of coffee, espresso, and/or espresso-containing beverage by locating a scent aperture in proximity to and/or adjacent to a drinker's nostrils; (8) provides an angled surface to which a drinker's upper lip may substantially seal; (9) provides a nose depression to accommodate the drinker's nose; and (10) small spills from drinking aperture and/or scent aperture may be contained in one or both of the drink cup lid depressions, among others.

Additional advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. Further benefits and advantages of the embodiments of the invention will become apparent from consideration of the following detailed description given with reference to the accompanying drawings, which specify and show preferred embodiments of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one or more embodiments of the present invention and, together with the detailed description, serve to explain the principles and implementations of the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a drink cup lid of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 shows an alternate view of the drink cup lid of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows an alternate view of the drink cup lid of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 shows an alternate view of the drink cup lid of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 shows an alternate view of the drink cup lid of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 shows a view of the drink cup lid of FIG. 1 in use.

FIG. 7 shows a cross-sectional view of the drink cup lid of FIG. 3.

REFERENCE NUMERALS IN DRAWINGS

• • 10 drink cup lid
  • 15 drinking aperture depression
  • 20 drinking aperture face
  • 25 drinking aperture
  • 30 nose depression
  • 35 scent aperture face
  • 40 scent aperture
  • 45 ridge
  • 50 annular lip
  • 55 annular mounting portion
  • N nose
  • C cup
  • L lips
  • O nostrils

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before beginning a detailed description of the subject invention, mention of the following is in order. When appropriate, like reference materials and characters are used to designate identical, corresponding, or similar components in differing figure drawings. The figure drawings associated with this disclosure typically are not drawn with dimensional accuracy to scale, i.e., such drawings have been drafted with a focus on clarity of viewing and understanding rather than dimensional accuracy.

In the interest of clarity, not all of the routine features of the implementations described herein are shown and described. It will, of course, be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made in order to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliance with application- and business-related constraints, and that these specific goals will vary from one implementation to another and from one developer to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of engineering for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.

Simply stated, an embodiment is a drink cup lid to improve a coffee, espresso, and espresso-containing beverage drinker's enjoyment when drinking from a portable, disposable, and/or “to-go” cup (e.g., formed from a paper product, plastic, foam, and/or a combination thereof) including a plasticized lid to mitigate spillage and/or splash. More specifically, the drink cup lid may substantially provide an olfactory and tactile drinking experience from a spill-resistant portable, disposable, and/or “to-go” cup akin to drinking from a glass, cup, and/or mug. In short, the drink cup lid of an embodiment may improve the taste of the beverage contained in the drink cup.

As will be described with reference to FIGS. 1-7, the drink cup lid 10 of an embodiment offers numerous advantages compared to standard disposable “to-go” drink cup lids. The drink cup lid 10 of an embodiment may not affect the basic taste of the beverage contained in the drink cup; however, the basic taste of the beverage may only be one component that contributes to the sensation and/or experience of the beverage to the drinker. In contrast, the drink cup lid 10 of an embodiment may enhance other sensation and/or experience factors including the beverage's smell as detected by the olfactory epithelium of the nose, its texture as detected by mechanoreceptors within and around the lips and mouth, and its temperature as detected by thermoreceptors within the same physiological regions. Collectively, the taste and smell of the beverage contribute to the flavor of the beverage while texture and temperature may be other factors for which drinkers have a preference.

FIGS. 1-5 illustrate generally the drink cup lid 10 of an embodiment. The drink cup lid 10 of an embodiment may include an annular lip 50 coupled to an annular mounting portion 55 that may detachably engage the top circular edge of a portable disposable drink cup (e.g., cup C of FIG. 6). The annular lip 50 may further couple to and/or include a ridge 45 that approximately divides the drink cup lid 10 into two approximately similar semi-circles. In an embodiment, the annular lip 50 and the ridge 45 may have substantially the same height relative to the drink cup lid 10 (e.g., they may lie in substantially the same plane). Functionally, the ridge 45 of an embodiment may divide the drink cup lid 10 into a portion dedicated to drinking the beverage and a portion dedicated to smelling the beverage. Ridge 45 may also provide additional structural rigidity to the drink cup lid 10.

The portion of the drink cup lid 10 dedicated to drinking the beverage may further include a drinking aperture depression 15, a drinking aperture face 20, and a drinking aperture 25 formed in and/or defined by the drinking aperture face 20. As further illustrated by FIG. 7, the drinking aperture face 20 may extend upward at an angle from the drinking aperture depression 15 to the annular lip 50. In an embodiment, the drinking aperture face 20 may extend upward at an angle approximately between 15 degrees and 60 degrees from the drinking aperture depression 15 to the annular lip 50. Alternately, the angle may be approximately between 30 and 45 degrees. Further, the interface between and/or intersection of the drinking aperture depression 15 and the drinking aperture face 20 may be a substantially straight line that is substantially parallel to the ridge 45. The interface between and/or intersection of the drinking aperture face 20 and the annular lip 50 may also be a substantially straight line that is substantially parallel to the ridge 45. Accordingly, the drinking aperture face 20 may have an approximately isosceles trapezoidal shape whose base (i.e. the longer parallel side) is the interface between and/or intersection of the drinking aperture depression 15 and the drinking aperture face 20

Further, the location, configuration, and shape of the drinking aperture 25 within the drinking aperture face 20 may improve the drinker's drinking sensation and/or experience, in particular related to the texture and/or temperature of the beverage as will be described below. In an embodiment, the drinking aperture 25 may approximately resemble an isosceles triangle (e.g., an inverted isosceles triangle with reference to the orientation of FIGS. 1 and 2). In an embodiment, all corners of the drinking aperture 25 may be substantially rounded. Additionally and/or alternately, the base of the inverted isosceles triangle defined by the drinking aperture 25 (e.g., the edge of the drinking aperture 25 adjacent the drinking aperture depression 15) may have an approximately arcuate shape. More specifically, the base of the inverted isosceles triangle may have an approximately convex arcuate shape. In an embodiment, the drinking aperture 25 may have an approximately 0.5 inch height and an approximately 0.5 inch wide base.

The shape of and/or defined by the drinking aperture 25 may present a wider opening to reduce the restriction with which foam, whipped cream, or any other floating topping with greater viscosity than the beverage liquid may flow versus being skimmed off. For example, as the cup C is tilted as the drinker drinks, based at least in part on the angle of the drinking aperture face 20, the portion of the drinking aperture 25 having the wider opening may be above the portion of the drinking aperture 25 having the narrower opening. The tilt at which the liquid beverage may exit the narrower opening of the drinking aperture 25 at a desirable drinking rate may substantially simultaneously allow the foam, whipped cream, or any other floating topping to extrude through and/or be sucked through the wider opening of the drinking aperture 25 at a rate that is comparably desirable.

More specifically, texture and/or the tactile interface of the beverage may contribute to a drinker's sensation satisfaction. Foam, for example, may include tightly packed and tiny air bubbles with a creamy texture that may differentiate raw material and/or barista quality for coffee, espresso, and espresso-containing beverages. However, unlike dedicated glasses, cups, and mugs that may be enjoyed in the confines of a restaurant, coffee shop, or café, portable disposable “to go” cup lids often include a drinking hole that does not allow the foam to pass through. Alternately or additionally, with existing “to go” lids, the depression in the lid may skim off the top layer of foam while drinking. The drink cup lid 10 of an embodiment including drinking aperture depression 15, drinking aperture face 20, and drinking aperture 25 does not suffer from the same limitations. The location, configuration, and shape of the drinking aperture face 20 including drinking aperture 25 substantially enable the drinker to enjoy both the coffee, espresso, and espresso-containing beverage and any foam, whipped cream, or any other floating topping included therewith much as they would if drinking from a glass, cup, and/or mug.

As noted above, another factor that may contribute to a drinker's sensation and enjoyment of coffee, espresso, and espresso-containing beverage is the temperature of the beverage. Most “to go” drink cup lids have a small drinking hole that forces the consumer to drink substantially only coffee without air. Such a configuration substantially impedes the ability with which the drinker may slurp or otherwise combine the beverage with air to cool the beverage. With this design it is very difficult to slurp air with the hot liquid to cool it down. Conversely, the size, shape (e.g., inverted isosceles triangle), configuration and/or location of the drinking aperture 25 may allow the drinker slurp the beverage and/or otherwise cool it down to desired temperature without having to remove the drink cup lid 10 of an embodiment from cup C.

As further noted above, another factor that may contribute to a drinker's sensation and enjoyment of coffee, espresso, and espresso-containing beverage is the smell of and/or olfactory interaction with the beverage. Smell combines with the taste of the beverage to provide an overall flavor sensation and/or experience for the drinker. In addition to the drinking aperture 25, the drink cup lid 10 of an embodiment may have a scent aperture 40 through which the drinker may smell the beverage as they drink it.

More specifically, the drink cup lid 10 of an embodiment may include a nose depression 30, a scent aperture face 35, and a scent aperture 40 formed in and/or defined by the scent aperture face 35. As further illustrated by FIG. 7, the scent aperture face 35 may extend upward at an angle from the nose depression 30 to the ridge 45. In an embodiment, the scent aperture face 35 may extend upward at an angle approximately between 15 degrees and 60 degrees from the nose depression 30 to the ridge 45. Alternately, the angle may be approximately between 30 and 45 degrees. Further, the interface between and/or intersection of the nose depression 30 and the scent aperture face 20 may be a substantially straight line that is substantially parallel to the ridge 45. The scent aperture 40 may be positioned substantially halfway along the scent aperture face 35 as it slopes up from the nose depression 30. In an embodiment, the scent aperture 40 may be shaped substantially as a slit having a long axis that is substantially parallel to the ridge 45. In particular, the scent aperture 40 may have a length (i.e., along the long axis) of approximately 0.5 inch and a width of approximately 0.125 inch with rounded ends. The shape of the scent aperture 40 substantially as a slit may provide beverage vapors and/or beverage scent or aroma to both nostrils O of the nose N (e.g., as illustrated by FIG. 6) while still substantially maintaining the spill and/or splash mitigating properties of the drink cup lid 10 of an embodiment. The coffee scent or aroma may be further enhanced if the drinker gently squeezes the cup to expel air from the cup C and inhales through the nose N just before and/or during beverage consumption.

To access the scent aperture 40 with the nostrils O and/or to enable more drink cup C tilt to access the beverage therein, the drink cup lid 10 of an embodiment as noted may include a nose depression 30. For example existing “to go” lids may have a flat top surface at the location where the drinker's nose hits that may force the drinker to tilt their head back substantially far to reach the last amount of beverage in the cup. In addition to being uncomfortable, such head tilt may impede the drinker's vision. The substantial head tilt can accordingly be quite dangerous while the drinker is walking along a busy sidewalk or driving a car. The nose depression 30 of an embodiment may at least partially receive the average drinker's nose N to allow the drinker to tilt the cup c moderately without having to tilt their head. Further, the nose depression 30 may locate the drinker's nostrils O adjacent to the scent aperture 40. The proximity of the drinker's nostrils O to the scent aperture may enhance the scent or aroma available to the drinker for a given scent aperture 40 size and/or may decrease the size of the scent aperture 40 for a desired level or magnitude of scent or aroma.

In use (e.g., as illustrated by FIG. 6), a coffee, espresso, and espresso-containing beverage drinker may fill cup C with their desired beverage and detachably engage the drink cup lid 10 to the lip cup C. To drink, the drinker may engage or press their upper lip L against the drinking aperture face 20. The upper lip L may or may not extend at least in part into the drinking aperture depression 15. The bottom lip L may engage or press against the annular lip 50. By doing so, the drinker's lips L may substantially conform to the contour of the drink cup lid 10 around the drinking aperture 25 to provide a substantially leak-proof seal.

With lips L engaged with the cup C around the drinking aperture 25, the drinker's nose may extend into the nose depression 30, thereby locating their nostrils adjacent and in proximity to the scent aperture 40. As the drinker tilts the cup C to a point at which the beverage flows through the narrow portion of the drinking aperture 25, any foam, whipped cream, or other topping may flow from and/or be sucked or extracted through the wide portion of drinking aperture 25. With or without the foam, whipped cream, or other topping, the drinker may slurp or otherwise combine air with the beverage to at least partially control the temperature of the beverage. The drinker may simultaneously (or independently without drinking) draw air into their nostrils O to extract beverage vapors or beverage scent and odor through the scent aperture 40. As an added boost to the beverage vapors and/or beverage scent and odor, the drinker may gently squeeze the cup C to expel air containing the vapors and/or scent and odor. As the quantity remaining in the cup C decreases, the drinker may tilt the cup C at least to some extent without head tilt and/or with reduced head tilt as their nose N extends into the nose depression 30. Overall, the drinker may enjoy a cup C of their desired beverage more when coupled to the drink cup lid 10 of an embodiment instead of an existing “to-go” cup lid.

In an embodiment, in addition to the functions described above, the drinking aperture depression 15 and the nose depression 30 may further aid the mitigation of spills should they occur. In particular, any liquid, foam, or the like that is expelled from the drinking aperture 25 and the scent aperture 40 may collect at least in part in the drinking aperture depression 15 and the nose depression 30 respectively. In particular, any liquid, foam, or the like that is expelled while the cup C is approximately upright may be substantially completely collected in the drinking aperture depression 15 and/or the nose depression 30 instead of spilling elsewhere.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that numerous modifications and changes may be made to the drink cup lid 10 of embodiment without departing from the scope of the claimed invention. It will, of course, be understood that modifications of the invention, in its various aspects, will be apparent to those skilled in the art, some being apparent only after study, others being matters of routine mechanical, chemical and electronic design. No single feature, function or property of the preferred embodiment is essential. Other embodiments are possible, their specific designs depending upon the particular application. As such, the scope of the invention should not be limited by the particular embodiments herein described but should be defined only by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.

Claims

1. A drink cup lid comprising:

an annular mounting portion to removably engage a drink cup;

an annular lip coupled to the annular mounting portion;

a ridge coupled to the annular lip to approximately divide the drink cup lid into a first semicircular portion and a second semicircular portion;

the first semicircular portion including a drinking aperture depression, a drinking aperture face, and a drinking aperture formed substantially in the middle of the drinking aperture face, and

the second semicircular portion including a nose depression, a scent aperture face, and a scent aperture formed substantially in the middle of the scent aperture face.

2. The drink cup lid of claim 1, the drinking aperture face to extend upward at a first angle from the drinking aperture depression to the annular lip.

3. The drink cup lid of claim 2 wherein an intersection of the drinking aperture depression and the drinking aperture face comprises a substantially straight line that is substantially parallel to the ridge.

4. The drink cup lid of claim 2 wherein an intersection of the drinking aperture face and the annular lip comprises a substantially straight line that is substantially parallel to the ridge.

5. The drink cup lid of claim 2 wherein the drinking aperture face may have an approximately isosceles trapezoidal shape including a first parallel side at the intersection of the drinking aperture face and the drinking aperture depression and a second parallel side at the intersection of the drinking aperture face and the annular lip.

6. The drink cup lid of claim 5 wherein the first parallel side and the second parallel side are substantially parallel to the ridge.

7. The drink cup lid of claim 1 wherein the drinking aperture comprises a wide portion and a narrow portion, the wide portion located toward the drinking aperture depression and the narrow portion located the annular lip.

8. The drink cup lid of claim 7 wherein the drinking aperture has an approximately isosceles triangle shape including rounded corners.

9. The drink cup lid of claim 1, the scent aperture face to extend upward at a second angle from the nose depression to the ridge.

10. The drink cup lid of claim 9 wherein an intersection of the nose depression and the scent aperture face comprises a substantially straight line that is substantially parallel to the ridge.

11. The drink cup lid of claim 1 wherein the scent aperture has an approximately slit shape including a long axis that is substantially parallel to the ridge

12. The drink cup lid of claim 11 wherein the scent aperture is approximately 0.5 inch long along the long axis and approximately 0.125 inch wide along a short axis substantially perpendicular to the ridge.

13. The drink cup lid of claim 1, the drinking aperture depression, the nose depression, or a combination thereof to collect at least a portion of a spill from the drinking aperture, scent aperture, or a combination thereof.